Playmobil punts bank-heist set to wide-eyed kiddies
Should actually be the bank robbing the punter
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El Reg's fave toy manufacturer Playmobil has provoked a miniature rumpus by punting a bank-heist set to children.
The "Bank with Safe" ensemble boasts a working cash machine although nippers are encouraged to make over-the-counter withdrawals via a pistol-waving blonde blagger - something hard-pressed parents may appreciate after stumping 40 quid for this box of shoot-'em-up entertainment.
Anyone wishing to choke on their morning coffee at the outrage is directed to the Daily Mail, where Danny Bryan of Communities Against Gun and Knife Crime thundered: "We don’t want to be encouraging young people to look at these sorts of things. I think it is horrendous that young people are given all these images to shape them. It is sending out the wrong message."
The Mail notes that Playmobil's previous form for corrupting delighting children includes knocking out "construction worker play sets which come complete with shovels, tools and three crates of what appears to be beer".
In light of this latest brouhaha, we presume the German manufacturer has cancelled any plans it may have had for a CIA water-boarding facility and the Ciudad Juárez drug cartel gun battle set, although it may well press ahead with a Paul Gascoigne rehab clinic and French horse meat burger-making factory. ®
Bootnote
Our own Playmobil tomfoolery can be found right here (warning: contains firearms, sex, violence, etc, etc).
COMMENTS
I think it sends out a positive gender message
The female bank robber sends out a message that of course women can take part in society in previously male dominated areas. And she is doing something productive, robbing a bank.
Bank robberies redirect money from investment banks to actual productive branches. They pay for the wages of your bakery or meat market, they pay for your hairdresser and plumber, and perhaps even your drug dealer. Bank robberies create and maintain jobs.
Good for them
*Caution: When-I-Were-A-Lad Rant*
Glad to see Playmobile bucking the trend for increasingly banal toys. It's the trend that has seen cap-guns, spud-guns, toy swords, and bow-and-arrows-with-suckers-on-the-end all but eradicated from toy emporia, but has seen the rise of increasingly sexualized girl-toys, 'cos that's just peachy.
Bought my lad a Playmobile cop van and was horrified that I felt mildly uncomfortable with the miniature shotgun and pistols. Note: horrified by my reaction, not the toy. I felt like I'd been brainwashed. Fortunately, he loves it, and he brought a tear to my eye by pretending to shoot his sister's doll with all the appropriate sound effects. Must join him in a shoot-out later...
Dreadful role model for children
Including a banker? What were they thinking?
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